Integration of Affect and Cognition in Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

Abstract Research on the factors that influence intrinsic motivation has emphasized either affect states (Izard, 1977) or cognitive evaluations (Deci & Ryan, 1985) for a complete explanation of the phenomenon. Although affective and cognitive factors account for a large amount of shared variance in the prediction of intrinsic motivation, the present investigation tested the hypothesis that the two factors also contribute unique variance to the prediction of intrinsic motivation. The traditional intrinsic motivation paradigm with a puzzle-solving task was used with a sample of American University undergraduates, and both self-report and behavioral measures of intrinsic motivation were assessed. Hierarchical regressions showed that each factor was able to contribute to the prediction of the measures of intrinsic motivation in a manner independent of the other factor, especially with the self-report measure. Both the affect and cognitive approaches to intrinsically motivated behavior, therefore, are fruitful...